Angels Wings
by Silverblacktears
Summary: Kumo reflects on his life, on his present situation and a sudden loss of an old ability. Can the young Swordsman ever recover what he's lost? Initially contains blood


Angel Wings

AN: Before I start I will admit that this is as much as I've written of this, I have things in mind but doubt I'll get the chance to update. However, if the feedback is good (Meaning of good quality, I don't mind if it's positive or negative) I may well change my mind.

Enjoy.

AWAWAW

Crux had saved them both, its diligence ensuring their survival against the destruction of the Earl's fortress Gaudium; it was not entirely sure why it had saved the man of the Black Wind but it had saved Kumo to repay the great kindness he had shown it in the past. The Mist summoner had been badly wounded, even Crux could appreciate the severity of his injuries; a savage tear in his side from where he had been speared by his own sword still bled freely. It had been unable to make a third trip for the Maken and for the red toned gun that Kaze used but Crux did not doubt Kumo's ability to relocate the sword.

Kaze woke slowly, his nose assaulted by the stench of blood before he could even open his eyes; even the hardened wielder of the Magun found it hard not to retch at the overpowering smell. Whilst his whole body ached, he knew that he was not injured too badly, a few cuts and scrapes that could be easily healed but nothing that could cause such an intense reaction from him. His blue eyes soon found the source of the blood; lying on his back a little way from him laid a familiar white clad figure, his white clothing stained by the vibrant crimson of his own blood.

The pool of blood that stained the cave's floor suggested that Kumo was still bleeding from the vicious wound, "Cuc-cur-re-yuh," A light, gender free voice chirped from one side, a pink clad figure hovering into view on vaguely yellow wings; it looked concerned as its golden eyes fell on Kumo. "Cuc-cur-re-yuh, cuc-cur-re-yuh." Its tones seemed desperate, its voice rising in pitch as it spoke.

Ice blue eyes gazed on the being without comprehension, "I don't understand, but he is badly hurt." Kaze stood, legs protesting against being used. He knelt at Kumo's side, deactivating the mask over his mouth by a secret switch on its rear so that Kumo could breathe far more easily. "Find me something to catch his breath, and a soil bullet." A quick check with his thumb over his holster had told Kaze that he had none available and his eyes had soon drifted to Kumo's belt to find the same was true for his counterpart; his hand strayed to Kumo's hip to unbuckle his belts. The fairy like creature nodded, heading out of the cave at speed.

His gentle hand continued the work that Kaze could not do with his eyes alone, feeling the damage to Kumo's back with the tips of his fingers. From seeing Kumo caught in Herba's plant web, Kaze knew that the Maken had speared Kumo through; it was as of yet unknown if the sword had sliced the Misterian's intestines; if it had, his recovery became even less certain. A talented white mage could heal the swordsman fully without a second thought, failing that a good medic could stitch the internal wounds neatly; Kaze was neither but he could potentially keep Kumo alive until he found both.

His examination had shown Kaze that Kumo's cape was attached to his shirt, so he could not remove the cape without doing the same for the shirt; lifting a knife from a leg holster to Kumo's cape, he sliced through it. Using the knife and tearing, Kaze cut the cape into strips that he could use to bind Kumo, before tearing some parts into other sizes for padding.

The pink creature was soon back with an empty bottle and four random soul bullets, releasing its precious collection to Kaze's care. The soil Summoner selected one of the bullets at random before pushing the others into his holster; delicately he scratched at the surface of the bullet with the knife until he had pierced into it, he let its contents trickle into the bottle, reminded of the sands of time as he did so. He then pressed the bottle against Kumo's slightly open mouth, removing it each time the younger being took a breath in; it was a painfully slow process but the end result would be worth it.

Once the bottle was full, Kaze pressed his thumb against its lip, shaking it hard he watched the reaction take place. Slowly the mist mixed with the glistening soil, turning into a seemingly toxic green substance; Kaze drenched the two collections of padding until they were stained green. What was left in the small slender bottle, Kaze splashed into Kumo's wound to prompt a groan from him; with his good hand, he pressed one of the parts of padding to Kumo's front. "Do the same to his back fairy," Kaze instructed as he sat Kumo up as much as he could.

Crux wished it could use common words, to be able to scold the arrogant gunman for assuming to boss it around in such a way but something far more important was at stake. Crux picked up the padding in both hands, pressing it into Kumo's back. "Harder," Kaze instructed and Crux pushed a little harder, the groan this prompted from Kumo made it almost drop the padding, the last thing it was wanted was to hurt the one person who had ever shown it any decency or compassion. Kaze shot it a hard look before his eyes softened in a barely perceivable way, "Quickly, if he isn't bound soon, he'll bleed to death." Crux's eyes widened, and it quickly picked up the bandages.

"Help me bind him," Crux did as it was told, helping the one handed man to bind the white haired swordsman; it could not stop it's golden eyes from watering as it did so, Kumo was shaking, his form feeling far too light. When the binding was in place as tight as it could be, Kaze lay Kumo down again. "Find the Kigen Artist fairy," Came the gruff instruction, Kaze looking at his bloody left hand as he did so.

"Cr - cru - cr - Crux," It insisted motioning itself to make it clear what it meant. "Cuc-cur-re-yuh, cuc-cur-re-yuh." Kaze shook his head in reply, not even looking towards the animated doll. Crux moved to stand in front of him, pretending to cast a Kigen spell before shaking its head.

"On the airship powered by flying water,"

Nodding, with a final look towards Kumo, Crux vanished; leaving Kaze with the badly wounded swordsman. He looked up from his hand, eyes going to the pale form nearby; the young face was beautiful beyond its pallor, his hand moving to lightly brush a strand of hair from Kumo's face. He removed his own cape, resting it under Kumo's head. Kaze could remember nothing of the past, but he felt a deep brotherly bond over the younger Summoner. "Did we even know each other before we tackled Chaos?" He thought aloud, standing and moving to look out of the cave's entrance.

"Not really," A very soft, small voice told him; tones filled with pain and exhaustion. Kaze turned to face the wounded swordsman, whose lethargic green eyes held his for a long moment. "We were forced into tackling Chaos …" He winced heavily, biting against the pain from his side. "… Neither of us was ready." Kaze quickly crossed to him as he went to sit up, forcing him back down by his shoulder, his unresisting charge did so.

"Lay still and shut up,"

Moving his right arm, Kumo shivered with pain at the slightest movement. Soon his eyes were closed but the small puffs of mist from his mouth showed Kaze that he was still alive; every once in a while, his pale young face would crease in a grimace of pain, proving that he was still awake too. They were both young, the same age that they had been twelve years before; their youth's stolen and frozen until Chaos was defeated. Kaze wondered if they would both get their chance to age now that He had gone; would the teen he had just treated finally get to see his 20's? Would he himself get the chance to age into his 30's?

He returned to stand at the mouth of the cave, looking off towards the distance; he knew nothing at all about the Misterian he had tried to save, he had not even known about his brother and Kaze had no idea what Kumo knew about him. A pink figure weaved through the air, dipping and gliding on the winds, "Cuc-cur-re-yuh, Cuc-cur-re-yuh" It called over the short distance to be fixed with a piercing look.

"Crux says that the airship is over the realm of Mysid," Kumo's soft voice offered, looking towards the animated doll, whose eyes widened in delight at seeing Kumo awake again.

"You understand it?"

"I feel what it wants to say,"

Absorbing this, Kaze moved to Kumo's direct side, "This is going to hurt," He forewarned as he went to lift the slender form, the Magun under Kumo's knees; he found himself gritting his teeth as Kumo let out a moan of pain, his eyes squeezing tightly shut. Uncertainly, Crux lifted and unrolled Kaze's cape, laying it over Kumo to give him some little warmth. "Ready Misterian?"

Green eyes opened slowly, face blanched further by the pain he was in. "You have to stay conscious," Kaze growled, "You can't fall asleep again." Crux drifted to Kumo's head height, cocking its head to one side as it looked into the pale face. "We need to get you to the airship."

"Cuc-cur-re-yuh!"

"It says that … Lisa cannot heal me, I'm inclined to agree."

Kaze shot Crux a hard look, he did not need Kumo to give up on him, "Not fully, no, but she can start it." He growled, "We need the scientists too, they should be able to work on what's left of your wound." Kumo nodded in reply, seeming to think this through.

Kaze stood for a while longer, allowing his charge to get used to the pain he was in due to being hunched in on the savage, bloody wound. When he was sure Kumo had adjusted, he started to walk, Kumo let out a groan, clutching at his side under the cape. Concerned golden eyes lingered on its one true friend as Crux followed Kaze. "Cur-uh," It chirped sadly.

"Talk to me, whitey locks," Kaze growled, worried that the teen he held would start to fade away if he was not given something to focus on. Listless green eyes were forced open, everything in them commanding to be given a topic. The older Summoner thought for a while, he was not the best conversationalist in the world. "What made you choose to wield a sword?"

It was a wide topic, one that Kumo could elaborate enough on to stay awake for long periods of time. "I suppose that my family did," Came the quiet and thoughtful reply, "Father was a master swordsman, and Kiri was in training; I suppose that I wanted to follow them." He scoffed a very slight laugh, obviously keen not to upset his side. "That and I never had the talent for my mother's craft."

"Which was?"

There was a pause and sharp intake of breath as Kaze took an uncertain step, "Sword smith," Came the hasty reply. Kaze was trying to find a clearing that was large enough for him to cast a teleportation spell to take them where they both needed to be. "What about your parents, Kaze?"

"I can't remember,"

"Oh?"

"Dad left mum when she was pregnant with Aura, and she died when I was nine."

"I lost both my parents when I was nine, Kiri looked after me from then."

Looking at the form he cradled, Kaze realised that he had expected this on some level. "They moved me and Aura in with our uncle; he was a retired fighter and an eccentric."

"I thought Windaria was a passive world,"

Kaze was all too aware of Kumo's fading voice as they progressed; gradually the slender teen's strength was leaving him entirely. As he adjusted his grip, Kumo let out a loud groan of agony, clutching at his side again. "How's the pain?" Kaze queried as Kumo squeezed his almost regal green eyes closed against it.

"I always wondered what being attacked by Ittouju would be like," Came the Misterian's near lifeless murmur. "Now I think I'm starting to know." Gradually, he opened his eyes again, looking up at the man who had saved his life. "You need to prepare a circle," He referred to a spell circle, which was used by some spell casters so they could use magic, it involved expending spiritual energy in order to create the lines of a circle. "Set me down Kaze, you cannot hope to do it whilst holding me."

Carefully, Kaze did as he was told, leaving Kumo to one side of the clearing with Crux as he moved to create the circle. Kumo rolled onto his right side, focusing on his breathing to ignore the pain. Kaze called up the spiritual energy, laying the flickering blue lines into the air; Kumo thought that blue was an appropriate colour for Kaze to use, a reflection of his soul. Kaze moved to his side, "Support me against you," Kumo instructed, "Maybe it will hurt less then being hunched."

"Sure," Came the sarcastic reply, "We both know that isn't true." He crouched next to Kumo, checking the bandages quickly. "Bleedings not as severe, but I'm not seeing that as anything, ready?" Kumo nodded and Kaze swung him into his arms; Kumo let out a sharp yelp. "What?"

Eyes tightly closed, teeth gritted, Kumo dug his fingers into Kaze's shirt; Kaze realised what he had done, in lifting Kumo, he had banged his wounded side against himself. "Do you want to stop?" Kumo shook his head, clutching at Kaze's shirt still, his eyes still closed. "Don't you dare fall asleep!"

"Cast the spell,"

AWAWAW 


End file.
